Latest / Healthy, Period. / Ep 31: The Answer You Want is in the Period You've been Neglecting

Transcript

Ep 31: The Answer You Want is in the Period You've been Neglecting · Healthy, Period.

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, gals?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the Healthy Period Pod.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're new here, I'm Coach Kate.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: And to today's episode, it's been a while since we talked about period specifically.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: So today that's what we're going to talk about.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like a lot of my content lately has gotten away from period-specific content because our periods are affected by so many factors.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: And fixing a period is more than just take this supplement or eat this food.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: So today I want to dive into the complexities of the menstrual cycle because I really think that our Instagram algorithms, coaches, trainers that work in this space, and honestly, even sometimes myself, we oversimplify a painful period or a PMOS diagnosis, PMS, or any other menstrual related issue.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: So today I'm going to start from the top and I'm going to work my way through some of the things that I see every day in my practice.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to start with the basics.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Most women think or are taught that our bleed week, our period, is the main event of our cycle, and it's not.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ovulation is the main event.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So what that means is that at some point mid-cycle, your body may or may not ovulate.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So ovulation is the release of a mature follicle from the ovaries.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever noticed your cervical mucus changing throughout your cycle?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Our cervical mucus changes pre-ovulation and tends to dry up post-ovulation.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And your fertile window is the six days leading up to ovulation when you actually ovulate, not when your period tracker app tells you that you should have ovulated.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you're trying to get pregnant or avoid pregnancy, you should be tracking your fertile window with basal body temperature readings daily and tracking your cervical mucus changes.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: You really shouldn't be reliant on a period app.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And as we go through this episode's content, that recommendation will make more sense to you.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, okay, ovulation is the main event, but what about the time each month when we are bleeding, uncomfortable, cramping, maybe you have a cyclical anxiety or depression and they appear?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why does this suck for so many women?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you ovulate, and when you ovulate, if you do not get pregnant, the corpus luteum, which its sole job is to support your uterus to make a healthy place for pregnancy, it makes progesterone.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So if sperm doesn't fertilize the egg, your corpus luteum will start to break down about 10 days after ovulation.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Without progesterone, your uterine lining sheds for your period instead of the changes it needs to support pregnancy.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And this uterine lining shedding, that's our periods.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to just share a few facts that I think every woman should know.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Day one of your menstrual cycle is the first day of full flow.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, estrogen is the hormone that women often talk about, and it gets blamed for most hormonal issues, which is fair.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Estrogen dominance is a tricky thing.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: But most recently, a lot of the issues that I've seen with the women that I work with in my practice, it's not always why is estrogen so high?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's often why is progesterone leaving the chat?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Number three.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why this is still a light bulb, most women have, but it is.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about it.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Your menstrual cycle does not have to be 28 days.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: 28 days is the average, but a healthy cycle ranges from 26 to 31-ish days.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So what matters more is that your cycle isn't 25 days one month and then 36 days the next month.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: We want to see it stay within a one to two day range, whether that's 26 to 28 days or it's 30 to 32 days.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: We want to stay at see it stay with a one to two day range.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, this one is fun.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Menstrual blood is not just blood, it's a mix of uterine lining, blood, and mucus.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: And a healthy period usually releases less than a half a cup over the entire bleed.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, the average woman will menstruate 450 times in her life.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: That makes for 3,500 days on your period.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: When we look at it like that, why on earth are we saying, oh, it's just the second day of my bleed that I'm in pain?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Or it's just a period, it's not that big of a deal.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because if anything else was to happen to me 450 times in my life and I have to spend 3,500 days with that thing, I would not want pain to be the defining factor of it.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the craziest part, most women don't even know what a healthy period is.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: When I start working with a new client, I take them through what I call a strategy session.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, long story short, we're going through the labs, symptoms, current nutrition habits, lifestyle habits, movement, supplements if needed, and anything else that I think is pertinent to their situation.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And in these sessions, I often ask about your experience with your periods.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is often it's fine, it's normal.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then I have to ask some deeper questions.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Walk me through a typical period experience day by day and start with the week leading up to it.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Often I hear, well, the week before I lose my mind, I'm anxious, I yell at the kids more often, I'm really fatigued, even if I sleep eight hours.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then my period shows up, and somehow I'm surprised that my mental health changed so drastically every single month.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the first day of my bleed, I feel it in my bones when it comes.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the first two days really suck, but then by day three, I'm totally fine.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, how many of you listening right now are like, yeah, that's me.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I've been told.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is a normal experience.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you have PMOS or PCOS and haven't had your bleed in a while, but maybe this is your experience when it does randomly show up, I'm gonna talk about that.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, what if I explained your experience just now?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what your body is saying to you?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna walk through a few bullet points.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's four of them where if your experience is it's really not that bad, but you have some anxiety, like we what we just talked about is you.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: One of these four, if not multiple of these four bullet points is going to kind of hit home for you.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with number one.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: PMS is not just PMS.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: PMS stands for pre-menstrual syndrome.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And just because PMS is common doesn't mean you have to live with it forever.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And PMS can be because of the intense drop of hormones right before your bleed.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there isn't enough progesterone to offset estrogen.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Q, why is progesterone leaving the chat that I said earlier?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time, the answer lies in digestion, gut health.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is estrogen being broken down efficiently in the liver?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Are you having bowel movements each day?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Most often, when we address some gut issue, PMS resolves.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Also, blood sugar dysregulation is a huge factor here.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked about this on podcasts before, but you can have blood sugar dysregulation and not have a diabetes diagnosis.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Insulin resistance causes an inflammatory state in the body, which raises cortisol, which stress, whether you feel it mentally or not, stress shifts hormone production priorities, which lowers progesterone output.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: So there are multiple factors that could be happening here.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And PMDD is often talked about as a very severe form of PMS, but PMDD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, it completely disrupts daily life and absolutely needs to be addressed.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes nutrition and lifestyle might not be enough for a PMDD diagnosis.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I just wanted to give you that plug here in case you are struggling with PMDD.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, PMOS or PCOS can be very complex case by case.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: There is not a one size fits all approach to bringing your bleed back and reversing PCOS.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So most cases of PCOS are insulin resistant, PMOS or PCOS, which means that the first order of action needs to be to regulate your blood sugar.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes when we lose our periods, it's a nutrient depletion issue.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Most women are often chronically underfed.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Your metabolism is not broken, but it has downshifted to compensate for the fact that you've been dieting for years.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: You need to eat enough for your body to know that it's safe while also regulating your blood sugar in this situation.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then your bleed will regulate.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Your period disappears because we can survive without our reproductive system.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So when there is a perceived danger, our reproductive system shuts down so energy can be dispersed to other body systems that need that energy during a stressful or perceived dangerous state.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, estrogen dominance.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: When estrogen is going unchecked, there could be an estrogen detox issue.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the liver can't detox efficiently because it's overloaded by environmental toxins, fragrance, medications, or the constipation that you've been experiencing actually creates an environment for estrogen to be reabsorbed back into your system.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it never clears.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: This could be the issue when dealing with cramping, heavy bleeding, really painful one to two days.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Number four is low progesterone.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: There are some key factors when identifying is it low progesterone or is it estrogen dominance?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Those major flags are a short cycle, so less than 26 days.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes it's a lighter bleed.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: PMS is often a sign that progesterone has left the chat early too.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So supporting progesterone is huge for women right now.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the women I work with that experience low progesterone have a few things in common.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: One, they're hustlers in all areas of life.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: They crush it at work as a mom, as a wife.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing church functions, whatever it is, you are a hustler.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: You tend to skip breakfast because mornings are too chaotic.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't know how to say no.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And but your schedules are time blocked perfectly.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't have to say no, but you also don't know how.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you often think that you have to push through everything because this is just how life is.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Until it's bad enough that you go for hormone testing and then all of a sudden your progesterone is low.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's a slow build over time.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't just happen.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: But that also means that you can support your progesterone and reverse the symptoms that have shown up.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, in the wellness industry, progesterone support and slowing down are big buzzwords.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: But slowing down and giving your nervous system what it actually needs is not the same thing as being lazy.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can still show up as a badass hustler while supporting your body.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just so you know, you can actually show up better when your body has what it needs.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can increase your capacity when you actually take care of yourself.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't need to spend thousands of dollars or rearrange your whole life to do it.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, your period actually tells you what's going on with your body.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Is your digestion functioning properly?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is estrogen being metabolized efficiently?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is ovulation happening and is progesterone production supported?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Is your nervous system supported?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Or are you in a chronically elevated stressed state?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Again, you can be stressed without feeling stressed.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you're underfed, nutrient deficiencies, under-recovering from HIIT workouts, which also goes with being underfed, doom scrolling every night, never seeing the sun, not getting enough steps in, blood sugar dysregulation is huge for affecting your nervous system.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And even if your period is only awful for one to two days, that's still one to two days a month, 12 times a year, that you're the one dismissing yourself.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've been in and out of the doctors for chronic symptoms and no one has had the answer for you, and you're still thinking my period isn't that bad, maybe it's time to realize that your period likely has the answer that you've been looking for.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I tell my clients all the time a diagnosis is just a name for a cluster of symptoms.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: It names the issue, but it doesn't actually do anything else.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, a diagnosis is helpful when figuring out how to fix the problem, but identifying with the diagnosis keeps you stuck too.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: So understanding what the diagnosis means, then going deeper into why are those symptoms happening, what is contributing to that issue.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Your body doesn't just wake up one day and choose vengeance just because symptoms are your body's way of communicating with you.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you know what your body's trying to communicate, you can actually support it.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you notice, there are three main themes that when fully supported, most chronic disease can be reversed: blood sugar instability, digestion, and a chronic state of stress.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: All chronic disease that I have seen in my practice comes back to these three things.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: PMOS, likely all three.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thyroid issues, definitely all three.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: SIBO, all three.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: IBS, all three.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Endometriosis, again, support all three.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you know my story.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've shared it on the pod before, but I was diagnosed with endometriosis when I was 27.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I used to need coffee to poop for years.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: That probably started when I was in high school or college.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I used to work for a corporate office that caused depression and tons of mental health issues.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I was literally scared of my boss ringing my phone.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I was 215 pounds when I quit my corporate job, when I got diagnosed, I was tracking my macros, I was competing in powerlifting, and I couldn't lose a pound.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: But when I started supporting all three blood sugar, digestion, and my nervous system, I lost 35 pounds in just nine months, and I've literally kept it off for the last two years or so, three years.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't eat anything super special or have an intense supplement stack.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I did all the things that supported me.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I show up better for my clients, I show up better for my husband, I can multitask and not get overstimulated.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: I actually know myself and I know my limits and I honor that.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: The first step is acknowledging what your period is telling you.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: The answer you've been looking for that you've been jumping from doctor to doctor about, it probably lies in your menstrual cycle.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope this was helpful for someone, and I'll see you in the next pod.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.